News

Name that bird!

When watching the webcam early this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of large "turkey" like birds come to the wooden feeder to sample some of the plantain placed there by the Buenaventura staff. This was the first time I have seen these birds on the cam – and before I make an enquiry to our Ecuadorian bird expert I was interested to see if any of our regular viewers could identify the early morning visitor? Below are some screen shots to help you out. All suggestions are welcome – just add them as a reply to the blog!

Hi Patti, lighter body darker wings makes me think that could be one of the parakeets they have there…or maybe a Tanager if it was larger. Hard to say without a screen shot though…Do you know how to take a shot from the webcam? If you don’t then don’t worry because as I am going to write a blog letting people know how and then perhaps you will be able to snap the bird next time it appears so that we can have a look at it!

Hi Beverley, thanks for the message. Recently we have been playing around with the webcam position to try and capture the colors of the hummer’s better which is why we moved it but after a small public outcry we have now put it back so we get the Coatis and Toucans as well. As Buenaventura is cloud forest habitat – as the name suggests – it is usually always overcast or raining and therefore hard to pick up the vibrant colours of the birds. However we are currently putting together a new cam system which should allow us to do this and we are testing it on a bird feeder in Dorset at the mo. You can see the test cam for yourself at http://checkanimalslive.com/camera/wildlifewindows1.html.

Thank you for the reply and also the link to the cam in Dorset. There are Great Tits on that just now making quite a lot of noise.
My family are all watching the webcam in Ecuador and my Dad was actually watching as they moved it. We are all pleased that it is back where we can see the platform and I’d say you have got it just right now. Yesterday at around 8am the sun was shining and the hummers were flitting around like jewels. Beautiful. This morning I have seen the turkey like birds, but no idea what they are. I am still hoping to see the toucans. Amazing to be able to see birds live in Ecuador from my home in the north of England.
Beverley

New visitor, so be gentle with me.
What are the little, and I mean tiny little animals? Are they birds, insects?
They seem to flit and fly like birds, then they are in the water swimming about. Fasinating.